Arcane Orb's per hit damage is based on the actual damage of the weapon, not DPS. Attack speed only affects the speed with which you can cast the spell. Which is important in the sense that casting faster means less time standing still. Does not have an overtly huge impact on actual damage done over time because Arcane orb is generally a giant AP sink, and you'll run out of that after a handful of casts.

You would NOT want a fast weapon for Disintegrate or Ray of Frost. Those spells work completely differently than Arcane Orb. Channeling spells' damage _is_ based on DPS values. The higher your DPS, the higher your per tick damage. However, the faster your weapon, the faster your AP drain. If you have identical DPS values on a slow or fast weapon, you'll do the same damage with those spells, but the slower weapon will waste less AP, making it superior.

Thank you that is the info I was looking for:?that arcane orb is based on weapon damage not DPS.

I know that the general consensus is that IAS affects hydra & also blizzard so is it safeto assume their damage is based off DPS as well such that same DPS = same dmg. Adding IAS ring/Ammy ups dmg. So in essence, they function similar to spells like integrate? (hydra don't fire faster tho, or blizzards don't tick faster)

If you can do something like push your AP on crit higher so that you regen enough AP for another shot before running out of AP, the faster weapon just won. Most things that increase your Orb damage without IAS would likely increase your orb damage with IAS also. I guess the difference is in how many stat points do you have to allocate?

The real problem with comparing them in a sandbox this way is that it does not account for the way we actually have to play reactively to the mobs. When was the last time your stood still for 10 seconds to unload?

I have personally preferred IAS with Orb due to the fact that I am usually getting off as many as I can in a small window of time before moving again. That time moving is AP regen. Really, either way is probably a very similar return on Orb and it's probably more about feel and playstyle. Unless you are standing still with not enough AP to attack, IAS has probably not hurt your dps. If you do find yourself in that position often, you would probably be better off backing off on IAS and focusing more on crit hit and crit damage.

Would be really cool to see some complex math on this and see if there is more to it than I realize but I'm not that guy.